COLM McELROY,
Sir, - I note that some members of ASTI are pinning their hopes of a wage increase on the fact of the next election's imminence. It seems these folk think they can deliver 200,000 anti-Government votes at a moment's notice. (Or has that figure, like the famous 30 per cent, also been picked out of the air?)
The thinking here is simple: Bertie realises that the bulk of voters who turn out on election day is among the better educated in our society, the politically aware. Consequently, he knows that teachers have a political clout out of proportion to their number. Keep the pressure up and he will cave in.
What these people do not appreciate is that Bertie is unlikely to be outfoxed on matters of voting strategy. He knows there are far more votes to be gained by standing firm in the face of the ASTI's ludicrous demands. He knows that organisation has been taken over by a refusenik rump, one which attaches far more importance to itself and its work than is given to it by Joe Citizen.
I do not mean to knock the work of teachers. I am one myself. I merely point out the obvious. These people are especially keen to be seen to be "professional" by the public. So how do they explain the outlandishness of their behaviour in recent times?
Certainly, if the possession of a pass degree and diploma automatically confers a professional status on one, many no doubt may claim such standing. If being allowed to absent oneself from work for four days in a row without a doctor's certificate indicates one's professional standing in society, then there can be few arguments. If being allowed 10 days' absence in any quarter, again without certification, suggests "professionalism", the case rests. If being allowed to absent oneself for one full year (365 days) in any four-year period, when in fact one is only asked to work on 167 days in a year (less in-service days, parent-teacher days, personal days, bad weather days, etc.) is indicative of one's professional gravitas, then our secondary teachers, no doubt about it, have earned their place on the pedestal of professionalism.
If threatening to black the public examinations of those they teach (as happened last year) and, as a consequence, jeopardise the futures of those they claim to serve, is a mark of one's professionalism, then ASTI members may indeed demand that they be treated as professionals.
I see where these people insist that the benchmarking process deliver them the same type of reward they see other "professionals" obtain. Do these other professionals work only an 18-22 hour week? For 167 (max.) days a year? With the prospect of further remuneration, should they decide to sit in front of a few children during June? Or correct a few scripts in July? Or get paid twice for the times they go off to conduct oral examinations (an oral fee on top of the normal wage for work not being done while one is away)?
With whom exactly do you compare these "professionals"? What other professionals work for 33 weeks a year and then only for half-a-week each week? What other professionals have a sick scheme which defies logic? What other professional is totally unaccountable for work done (or not)? And despite this, such people, if they are in their late forties and with an A post, may earn in excess of €50,000 a year. Yes, it works out (for an average 20-hour week over 33 weeks) at more than €75 an hour!
Bertie is no fool. He knows the emperor was eventually seen to have no clothes. He knows there are votes to be had by showing the emperor (ASTI) up for the naked fool he is.
I know there are brilliant teachers out there. I work with some of them. They are both gifted and devoted to their work. They shape people's futures. They deserve a good salary. They are willing to discuss this issue with their paymaster. They possess common sense.
I aim my comments at the refuseniks. They refuse to be reasonable. They refuse to talk. They insist on pre-conditions before they will negotiate. They care nothing for the children they teach. They are not professional.
I call on decent ordinary secondary teachers (many of whom are presently members of ASTI) to consider setting up a teachers' union for decent, ordinary secondary teachers. A union that will place some emphasis on a just wage for good work. A union that will attempt to recover the lost ground of common decency. A union that will stress the vocational and professional nature of teaching.
It is time to make a stand. - Yours, etc.,
COLM McELROY,
Findlater Street,
Dublin 7.